Before You Met Me
by gleekyoutsider5
Summary: Blaine may have always been an outstanding performer and an outgoing person, but was he always so proud of who he was? Maybe his backstory isn't so simple. This tells the story of Blaine's life before he met Kurt, including coming out and all of the repercussions of that. Warning: some violence (bullying) and self harm. Not necessarily a Klaine story.
1. Chapter 1: Coming Out

"Latte?" I asked Kurt while we sat down. He smiled. "This is Wes and David," I explained, gesturing towards my two friends sitting next to me.

"It's very civilized for you to invite me for coffee before you beat me up for spying," Kurt said, sounding slightly afraid.

"We are not going to beat you up," Wes smiled a little, reading my mind.

David chuckled a little while he replied. "You were such a terrible spy, we thought it was sort of...endearing."

"Which made me think that spying on us wasn't really the reason you came." I continued.

Kurt was very hesitant in his next statement. He was clearly nervous and I could understand why. He was with three guys he barely knew at a school that held his rival glee club where he had just seen one of our best performances yet. "Can I ask you guys a question?" We all nodded slowly, as if to say we were okay with whatever was coming, no matter how dumb of a question it was. "Are you guys all gay?"

We all laughed and glanced at each other before I replied. "Uh, uh no. I mean, I am, but these two have girlfriends."

"This is not a gay school; we just have a zero-tolerance harassment policy," David explained. Kurt was shocked. I was still in disbelief after being at Dalton for almost a full year.

"Everybody gets treated the same, no matter what they are. It's pretty simple," Wes agreed.

Kurt looked like he was either going to smile or cry. He was still nervous, scared. I tilted my head, trying to figure out what he needed me to say. "Would you guys excuse us?"

Wes and David both stood up and started to walk away. "Take it easy, Kurt," Wes said as they grabbed their coffee and walked away. Kurt was hesitant to even look at me. I saw so much of my freshman self in him that it was scary. Afraid to make eye contact, afraid to speak my feelings, afraid to be myself.

"I take it you're having trouble at school." I said, trying to put all of the pieces together.

"I'm the only person out of the closet at my school," Kurt admitted. I still didn't know which school he was from but I assumed he went to McKinley; they were our biggest competitors for sectionals this year. Kurt nodded and let a tear fall. "And I-I tried to stay strong about it but...there's this neanderthal who's made it his mission to make my life a living hell. And nobody seems to notice." He shook his head in denial, wishing what he was saying wasn't true.

In my head, it took me a long time to decide what to say next. Did I really want to tell some kid from McKinley that I barely knew my entire life story? I knew that the coming out of the closet story was pretty common and people weren't generally ashamed after this long but it still scared me to think of everything that had happened. "I know how you feel," I finally admitted. "I got taunted at my old school, and it really...pissed me off. I even complained about it to the faculty, and they were sympathetic and all, but you could just tell that nobody really cared. It was like, 'Hey, if you're gay, your life's just gonna be miserable. Sorry. Nothing we can do about it.' So I left and I came here. Simple as that."

But it really wasn't nearly as simple as that. In fact, it was much more complicated. It all started one day after school in October.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Hey Blaine, let's work on the car tonight after dinner with the Jensens," my dad suggested, talking over the TV. There was a football game on. I was working on homework so I wasn't paying as much attention to the game as I usually did. I hadn't come out yet but I knew I was gay and everybody had their suspicions; I was a dorky freshman in glee club, theater, and student council after all. I didn't make the football team or the basketball team because I was too small and all of my popular, athletic friends from middle school had abandoned me for cheerleader girlfriends and their brand new upperclassmen friends. My only allies were glee club losers and theater nerds who I'll admit, I was not the nicest to. The only person from middle school that I was still close friends with was Eliza Montgomery.

We met in sixth grade. At the time, I was really confused about my sexuality. I was always taught that boys like girls so that's how I figured I was supposed to be. I didn't have the same attraction to girls as all of my friends and I had a few crushes on guys when I was younger. When all the boys in kindergarten said Jane was pretty, I was focused on Tarzan and his strong muscles and chest. When I got to the awkward middle school years, I was never into watching the lesbian or straight porn like all of my friends. I went straight to the gay stuff. Anytime my mom would ask me if I liked any girls in school, I just told her there wasn't anyone in particular and she told me it was because I still hadn't gone through puberty yet. She said my friends just matured faster, but I knew that wasn't true. By that point, the whole thing was pretty obvious to me. I used to sit next to my mom pretending to do my homework while she watched ER and of course, whenever she looked at me I would go back to algebra, but most of my time was spent admiring George Clooney. Then came Maroon 5's breakout album "Songs About Jane". I spent at least two hours every night watching music videos, mostly to stare at Adam Levine. I brushed it off and figured it would be easier for everyone if I left it alone.

One day, my friends were harassing me about who I "liked" and I didn't want to seem weird since I was the only one who didn't like a girl. I blurted out the first name I could think of and it happened to be the girl who sat next to me in my third period math class.

My best friend at the time, Joe, told Liza's friend about my "crush" and Liza's friend told a few more people and eventually everyone knew, including Liza. She acted really awkward around me the next day in math and I was the same way. It stayed like this for a few weeks until I finally decided to talk to her. Joe was making fun of me and trying to get me to ask her to hang out, so I did. We went to the movies and figured out we actually got along really well. We went to see Dreamgirls, which probably should have given her a warning sign since I was more into the movie than she was.

We started hanging out all the time; she kind of became my new best friend and soon replaced Joe. It was the beginning of eighth grade when I came to terms with being gay. There was this really cute guy who I played football with and about halfway through the season, I started talking to people on these online chat room things about having feelings for guys and how to know if you're gay and that's when it came to me: the reason I never liked girls was because I always liked guys. I accepted it fairly quickly compared to some of the guys I had talked to. I knew I couldn't change and I knew there wasn't anything wrong with it, but I still felt like I had to hide it. My parents were very conservative and religious and sort of frowned upon homosexuality. It wasn't very common in Ohio so I didn't feel like I could tell anyone. My friends made gay jokes all the time and I didn't want everyone to hate me or make fun of me. Still, I knew I needed to tell someone.

On Valentine's Day, I went over to Liza's house to watch romantic comedies because neither of us had plans. Around 7 that night, she started to cuddle up to me. After the movie was over, I sat up and faced her. "Liza, can I tell you something?" I asked, fearing what her reaction would be.

"Sure, what is it?" She smiled at me, but her lips were quivering. I think she was nervous. Of course we look back on this moment and laugh now, but it was freaking both of us out.

"You have to promise not to tell anyone." By this point, we told each other almost everything. I knew about almost all of her secrets and she knew the majority of mine. But the biggest secret was getting to be too much to hide from her and I wanted to be able to talk it out with my best friend. She nodded in agreement and I knew she wouldn't have a problem keeping the secret. "I...I'm...gay." I whispered the word "gay", still feeling afraid of what she might say.

She moved back a little, thrown off by what I had said. "What?"

"I like boys...not girls. I started having this crush on a guy on the football team...I always knew something was wrong. I guess I just didn't label it until recently. I'm sorry I've kept it a secret for so long. I hope this doesn't change anything." I looked down and then off to the side, avoiding eye contact.

After giving it some thought, she looked at me again. "Cool," she grinned at me. "I mean it sucks that I have no chance now because you're pretty awesome. But I'm definitely cool with this. And I promise I won't tell anyone until you're ready."

I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into a hug. "Thanks for being the best friend in the world."

So that's how the coming out process started for me. Most of the kids my age that I talk to say they came out to their best friend first. I'm pretty grateful mine was so understanding. But I guess telling Liza was the beginning of the end.

By the time October came, nothing had really changed. Liza and I were closer than ever but I had lost most of my old friends. I also felt really anxious all of the time because I didn't want my parents to find out, especially my dad, who wasn't any better than freshmen boys with the gay jokes. The Jensens were family friends we had known for years. They moved out of the neighborhood a while ago but we still got together every so often to catch up. They had a daughter a few years younger than me named Lucy that was a spoiled brat and I hated spending time with them because I was always forced to hang out with her. I was about to go to my room to get ready for dinner when my dad spoke again. "Blaine, since you're in high school now, I think it would be okay if you'd like to bring a friend to dinner tonight. Maybe that girl, Eliza?" He suggested. My parents didn't really understand that Liza and I were just friends, especially my dad. He always thought we had something else going on.

"I guess I can ask Liza if she wants to come," I shrugged and went up to my room to text her and get ready for dinner. She texted back that she would love to come so I told her we would pick her up on our way.

By the time we got to dinner, I had filled Liza in on our history with the Jensens and everything she needed to know before dinner. They were even more conservative than my parents. We sat down with the Jensens at our table near the back of the country club dining room and the questions instantly began. "So, Blaine, how is school going this year?" "Are you still playing football?" "What's your favorite class?" "Who's your favorite teacher?" And then the real question came from Mrs. Jensen. "Oh my goodness, I'm so rude. I completely forgot to ask. Eliza, right? Are you his girlfriend?"

Liza and I looked at each other and laughed a little. "No, we're just friends," I replied.

"Are you sure? You two look awfully close," Mr. Jensen argued. I was getting a little bit annoyed with always having to hide myself from people and Liza was getting sick of covering for me, though she would always do so if needed.

"Yep. I'm sure," I nodded.

That's when Lucy decided to be a brat again. "Sure looks like you're dating. You keep touching her and stuff. And you always post pictures on Instagram together hugging and being really cute." Of course the little middle school girl obsessed with high school drama was the one to cross lines. That was the biggest problem I had with Lucy. "You should just date her already, Blaine. Or is she too good for you?"

"Lucy! Watch your mouth!" Mrs. Jensen scolded.

I shook my head. "It's not that, we just don't like each other like that. I don't want to date her and she doesn't want to date me."

"I agree, Lucy; these two would make a great couple," my father winked at me. All that anger was building up inside of me and I couldn't stand it any more. I hated hiding from everyone and having to answer the same questions over and over and over again. "Why aren't you two together, Blaine?"

The pressure was building inside my brain and despite Liza's comforting hand on my arm trying to keep me from doing something stupid, the word vomit fell out and I finally said, "I'm gay."

I'm not sure if it was my imagination or if I'm being overdramatic, but you could have heard a pin drop in the country club diner that night. It felt like everyone heard me and everyone was judging. The table was dead silent. Everyone just stared at me, even Lucy. Unable to handle the tension, I stood up and ran outside. I could not have escaped fast enough. Liza followed close behind me but there was no stopping me from collapsing into a major meltdown once I reached a secluded area outside. "Blaine…" She sat down next to me. I shook my head and fell into her arms. "It'll be okay."

What's funny about families is you think they're the people who are going to have your back through thick and thin. You think one day when you're 25 and about to start your own family, you'll still be spending holidays with your mom and dad and brother and everything will be fine. You think once you get through the teen years it will all be okay. But at that moment, I knew nothing would ever be the same again. My father would never look at me the way he looked at me when we went to football games or changed the oil on his car. My mother would never talk to me about girls again or try to give me advice on dealing with crushes. My brother would never give me a man to man pep talk again.

"I'm so stupid, Liza. Why would I do that? I should have just kept my mouth shut. Now everything...everything is ruined," I cried, lifting up my head in anger.

She looked up at me and sighed. "Blaine, they had to find out eventually. At least now they know and we can all work through it. Isn't this better than how it was before? Now you have nothing to hide." She paused and when I didn't say anything, she continued. "Maybe they won't be as mad as you thought."

I laughed sarcastically. "Have you met my parents?"

And just as I asked the question, my mother stepped into the area we were sitting, although she was avoiding eye contact. "Blaine, we're going home now. We'll talk when we get there." She walked to the car with my father slowly following behind her. "Eliza, do you need a ride home?"

Liza looked at me and then told my mom she was fine before giving me a quick hug, wishing me luck, and leaving.

Unconditional love is a weird thing. High school couples tell each other "I will always love you" like they mean it. When you're a kid and your parents are trying to make you confess something, they tell you they'll love you even if you did something dumb. As you get older, it's more serious issues. And when you're...special, or at least different than other people, different than what your parents want, you can't help but worry that they won't be so understanding. My parents' love may have been unconditional but as far as acceptance goes, they were the most homophobic people around.

But the thing that scared me most about going home with my parents wasn't the lectures or the feeling of not being wanted, it was the fact that the second they finished yelling at me for embarrassing them at the club and disappointing the family, they would start trying to change me. I knew the ex gay therapy and the biweekly church visits would begin. I would never be allowed out of the house for anything other than school and family gatherings. No one would know except my parents and Liza. We would tell the Jensens it was just a teenage attempt at rebellion. And that's exactly how my conversation with my parents went.

The worst part was the look on my dad's face. The disappointment. Shame. Humiliation. Degradation. After my mother went to bed, he stayed back to talk. But instead of talking he just stared at me and shook his head. I went to my room and cried into my pillow for hours. Before I knew it, it was 6 am and I hadn't slept. Liza stopped texting me at 2 and I spent at least 2 hours after that staring at the ceiling, terrified for the weeks to come.


	2. Chapter 2: The Party

A week after the country club incident, I'd barely spoken to my dad. I spent all of my time studying in my room or at Liza's house or at choir practice. I think some kids must have heard rumors and they started pushing me around at school. Apparently some band geek overheard our conversation at the club and tweeted about it. Most people already knew because of all of the bow ties and button downs and cropped pants and name brand shoes, but there was something different about people knowing for real. This one kid, Owen, was different, though. He was one of the biggest bullies around and pushed around all of my friends. He always wanted to get with Liza and it drove her insane. He used to just pick on me with smart ass gay jokes and slang terms and small shoves, but now it escalated to a completely new level. "Go back in the closet, homo," he chuckled as he slammed my body into the lockers. I really wasn't that small. Sure, I wasn't the biggest guy in school, but I wasn't incapable of defending myself. And normally I would, but the words he said really got to my head.

"Ignore it, Blaine. Be the bigger person," Liza told me. She whispered it every time I got pushed around. I shook it off and continued walking with her down the hall to home ec. "Want to go to that party with me after the game Friday night? It might be good to get all of this off your mind. Everybody will be too drunk to think about it."

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, the best way to get my mind off of the bullying is to party with the bullies. Can we please just have another movie night? Titanic came out on Netflix."

She shook her head. "Blaine Anderson, there is no way I'm letting you spend another Friday night in my basement gaining ten pounds from popcorn and chocolate. You can't let this ruin your life. Now you're free to be yourself, your biggest burden is off your chest. You have to embrace it and have some fun. Plus, a little alcohol certainly couldn't make things worse."

We both laughed a little and linked arms as we walked into class. "Okay fine. But you can't ditch me, I don't have anyone else to hang out with."

"Deal."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

We were two drinks into the party when Liza broke her promise and ditched me. I don't think she did it intentionally; she just had a lot of friends and I only had her. She wasn't close with anyone else but she always enjoyed hanging out with her girlfriends and the football guys. I was sitting on an awkward looking cranberry red couch in the basement, attempting to avoid staring at the school's junior it couple making out in the corner or the cheerleading team doing body shots with the hockey guys or the basketball team playing beer pong, when Tyler Mitchell, the only other gay kid in our school, sat next to me.

Tyler Mitchell was a sophomore. We had gone to school together for a few years and I heard a lot about him in middle school. When I was still friends with Owen and the other football guys, we all made fun of him together. We'd see him across the hall and taunt until he spoke up or walked away. I never talked to him one on one, except once when we were on the same team for middle school kickball in gym class. Even though he always seemed like a decent person, I avoided talking to him at all costs. I guess the fact that he had been out and proud since seventh grade kind of freaked me out. I was always afraid of being like him, but part of me always wanted to be. From what I had heard, he was super smart. Apparently, he was ranked third in his class and was the star of the science olympiads. Most people thought that was super nerdy, but somehow he made it seem cool. He wasn't really my type, though I wish he was since he was basically my only option. I generally didn't like blond guys, and he was really blond. I'm actually pretty sure he bleached it. His faded blue eyes seemed optimistic and hopeful for the future, and it didn't look like anything could make him sad. I didn't find him all that attractive, but he did have an adorable smile that lit up the whole room. He used that cute smile when he sat down next to me on that cranberry couch, and I was really confused. "Blaine Anderson, right? I'm Tyler." He grinned at me.

"Yeah, that's me." I nodded.

"Cool. I heard about whatever happened at that country club last week. Sorry it had to come out like that." His eyes were sympathetic; it felt like he actually cared.

I shrugged. "Guess it had to happen eventually. My parents are still in shock. My dad can't even look at me anymore. It could be worse, though."

He agreed and then took a sip of his beer, looking away. "I'm not here to flirt with you or anything, just so you know. I thought maybe you could use a friend who gets it. I mean Eliza Montgomery is cool but I noticed her off with some of the football guys and cheerleaders earlier, and I figured you'd need someone who can relate."

I hesitated before replying. Liza was my best friend and I would never want to give her the impression that I didn't appreciate everything she did for me. But this was someone who had experienced all of this before, someone who could help me through the bullying and the self hatred. "Liza is a great friend. I just don't want her to feel like she has to protect me. But in some ways, I need her to. I can't imagine where I would be right now without her. I feel like I'm holding her back. She's the prettiest girl in my grade and she's so popular...but she never does anything with anyone else. And I always feel guilty about that. And I feel guilty for being mad at her for ditching me at this stupid party. Obviously I understand that she has other friends. It just sucks."

Tyler waited for me to finish and then responded, "I had a friend like that in middle school, Jenny. She moved away now but she was my best friend. We actually got married in elementary school. We were super close. Then I realized she had other friends and I needed to stop keeping her to myself. But then I didn't have anyone. The worst part is when all of your guy friends stop talking to you because they're afraid you have a crush on them or something. You used to hang around with all the jocks, right? And now they're the ones pushing you around."

"Yeah, it's not like all of a sudden I'm gay and I can't be into football or any of that anymore. I've always been gay, I'm still into that stuff," I explained, still irritated about all of the guys I used to hang around. "They just don't get it."

"Well if you ever need someone to talk to, don't be afraid to call. Here, I'll put in my number." He took my phone and added his contact into it before handing it back. "I should probably get going, my parents set ridiculous curfews. See you around, Blaine." He smiled and left. I didn't think I'd actually call him, but it was nice knowing somebody had my back, especially someone who could relate.

20 minutes after that I realized it was midnight and we should probably head home. I didn't want to walk back without Liza because I was planning on staying over at her house. I hadn't seen her in almost two hours so I decided to get up and go looking for her. The first three rooms I walked into were either full of hipsters smoking pot or couples making out, one with both. The fourth one had nothing but I think that's because it was a storage room or something. By the time I reached the fifth room I was ready to give up until I saw Liza's shoes lying on the floor by the door. My eyes travelled around the room until I located a door leading to another room. I opened it and found a bed with my best friend making out with Owen Boles, the biggest bully in our grade. She heard the door open and they both looked up, but the second they noticed I was there, I turned around and started storming out the door.

"Blaine, wait," she got up and adjusted her clothes before following me out the door. "I can explain...we just started talking and…"

"What the hell, Liza? I get wanting to hang out with other people and have other friends but why him? He treats me like garbage, and you just go and make out with him like it's no big deal? You're supposed to have my back," I was pretty upset, almost yelling at her. Tears were filling my eyes by the time we stepped outside onto the pavement.

She was crying, too, as she followed me down the street with her shoes in one hand and her phone in the other. "Blaine, will you please just let me explain what happened?"

"I really don't want to talk about it tonight. Can we please just watch a movie and go to sleep?" I asked. I didn't want to hear her justification. At that moment, there was nothing she could say to make it better. I knew it would be best to leave that talk for the next day and deep down she knew it, too.

All I knew was my best friend in the world made out with the guy whose mission was to make my life a living hell. And just when I thought things couldn't get any worse.


	3. Chapter 3: Options

I left Liza's early in the morning and found myself sneaking inside my own house, afraid of giving my parents another reason to be mad. To my surprise, my mom was wide awake and sitting on our living room couch talking on the phone. I was on my way up to my room to relax until I heard my name. "I don't know how we didn't see it coming. Maybe we were in denial. I wish you were here to help your father and I get through this. I don't know what we're going to do." Her voice was shaking; she was crying. "No, I'm not okay with it. What will our friends think? They already look down on us for not sending you to college and letting you go off to L.A. instead." She must have been talking to my brother, Cooper. "No, you don't need to come home. I'll talk to Blaine tonight. Alright, love you, too. Bye." She hung up the phone and wiped away her tears.

"Mom?" I asked, hesitantly stepping into the living room.

"When did you get home?" She tried to hide her tears but I was sure she knew I could still see them. "Can we talk for a little bit?" She wasn't really asking. I knew what that tone meant. She was going to tell me something I didn't want to hear. I sat with her on the couch and waited for the talk to begin. "This gay thing...are you sure?"

My stomach was doing flips when she started to avoid eye contact. There's nothing more terrifying than the thought that your mother might no longer love you. "Yes, Mom. I'm sure. I've felt this way for as long as I can remember."

"You're not doing this to rebel?" She questioned. That's what hurt the most. She thought I was doing this to piss off my dad. He's not the kind of man anyone would want to get on the bad side of. I shook my head. "You're not allowed to act on these homosexual feelings in our house. Boys are not allowed to sleep over, we must know where you are at all times, and we're going to start checking your phone. If there is anything suspicious, we reserve the right to punish you in whatever way we deem necessary. Understood?"

I looked up at her in shock. "Mom, why are the rules any different for me than they were for Cooper? Or for when you thought I was straight? Suddenly I tell you I like kissing boys and I'm not allowed to have a social life?"

Her eyes darted away from mine. "I will not encourage this lifestyle you've chosen for yourself."

"Trust me, it's not a choice. I would never choose this for myself knowing my parents and everyone at school would hate me for it. It's who I am, Mom. I don't care if you like it or not but I can't hide it anymore and I'm not going to just ignore it. I should be allowed the same freedoms as everyone else. I can't choose to like guys any more than you can," I argued before standing up and running to my room.

My mom and I had never been close, but seeing her with that look on her face, so disappointed, so ashamed, made me want to die.

I have to admit, swallowing half a bottle of my mom's ambien sounded like a good solution at the time. Instead, I settled on finding a screw driving and tearing apart my razor. I toyed around with the small razor blade for a while, contemplating whether I should actually do something or not. "This is stupid," I mumbled to myself. I held it in my hand, leaning towards tossing it in the trash, but my thoughts were interrupted by a text from Tyler.

" _Hey! Wanna grab a coffee? -Tyler"_

Before I had the chance to reply, Liza sent me a similar text.

" _Can we please meet up and talk? I can't stand you being mad at me."_

So of course, I chose to meet Liza. After all, I needed to hear her out and I promised myself that I would hear her side of the story. I met her at our favorite frozen yogurt shop downtown. We sat at a small booth in the corner, like we always do, except it felt different this time. "I wouldn't have done anything if we hadn't talked before. He's actually a sweet guy, Blaine. He told me he would apologize to you at school on Monday. I think he genuinely feels bad for the way he's treated you. I told him I wouldn't go out with him unless he promised to never touch you again."

"Wait, you're going out with him now? I thought it was just a one time thing," I frowned and she reached over for my hand.

"I actually like him, Blaine. I thought you would be supportive, as my friend." She squeezed my hand underneath hers.

I rolled my eyes. "It's a little hard to be supportive when he calls me a fag every chance he gets and never misses an opportunity to shove me into the wall." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. How could she think I would be supportive of this?

She pulled her hand away and crossed her arms. "What can I say that will make you be okay with this?"

My eyes finally made contact with hers and I sighed, searching for the right words. "Honestly, Liza, I hate that guy probably more than anyone. It would make both of our lives easier if you stayed away from him. I don't understand what you see in him, and I don't understand why you had to pick Owen Boles out of every guy in our school. You could date literally anyone you want and you chose the guy who's been pushing me around calling me names ever since the rumors started two years ago. I don't understand why you went behind my back and didn't talk to me before doing anything at that party. And I really don't understand why you thought I'd be okay with this," I paused, taking a breath before continuing. "But...if he makes you happy...and you want to try it out...I'm not going to stand in your way. I love you and you're my best friend, I just wish you could date anybody else in the whole world."

"Thank you so much," she stood up and came to my side of the booth, wrapping her arms tightly around my torso. "I'm so glad you feel that way because I'm going to ask him to the Sadie Hawkin's dance on Friday and I was hoping you'd help me think of ways to ask him."

I once again found my eyes rolling back, but this time in amusement. "Too soon." We both laughed. "Besides, I thought we were going together? I've been looking forward to this for a long time. Who am I supposed to go with now? It's not like there are a million gay freshmen running around our school."

"Maybe not, but I'm sure you'll find someone. I'm sorry, I just really want my first high school dance to be romantic." Her eyes showed sympathy so I let it go and we continued talking for a while until her parents texted her to come home.

My brain wouldn't shut up after Liza left. I kept thinking about going to Sadie Hawkin's alone and Liza dating the school bully and my parents hating me. My phone beeped again with a brand new text from Tyler. Finally something to interrupt my thoughts.

" _I heard about Liza and Owen. U ok?"_

There was no way I could get that all out in text and since I couldn't go to Liza's and I didn't want to go home, I decided to take a chance.

" _Is coffee still an option?"_

We met an hour later at a popular coffee shop downtown Columbus. I found him sitting at a corner table and sat across from him. I attempted to match his smile but we both knew it was fake. "Hey, sorry I've kind of been harassing you over text. I guess I thought you could use a friend after I found out about Liza."

"No, don't worry about it. It's nice knowing somebody's there," I grinned. "I met up with Liza this morning and apparently she's going to Sadie Hawkin's with Owen. I guess they're a thing now. She doesn't really care how much it pisses me off. I guess I don't either as long as she's happy."

He shook his head. "Your feelings are your feelings, Blaine. You don't have to tell her you're okay with it if you're not."

I shrugged. "I just want her to be happy. And she keeps insisting that she really likes him and he's going to apologize for what he's done or whatever. I'm just worried about her."

"That's completely understandable. So are you still planning on going to Sadie Hawkin's if you're not going with her?" He asked, taking a sip of his latte.

I hadn't thought quite that far in advance. The dance was a week away and I didn't really have any other friends to go with so I shook my head. "I don't think so, she was supposed to be my date and I don't really have another option.

"Do you want to go together? Just as friends, obviously. I know you just got out of the closet and things are still rough for you. I think this kind of thing would be good. Plus I can help you fight off the homophobic assholes that pollute our school." The suggestion actually sounded really nice. I agreed to the dance and we continued to talk about it for hours after that. I wasn't interested in him romantically, but he was a pretty awesome guy to talk to. And at least I finally had someone to relate to what I was going through.

 **Thanks so much for reading! Reviews would be greatly appreciated! Suggestions and comments are always helpful!**


	4. Chapter 4: Sadie Hawkin's

The plan was all set: Tyler's dad would pick me up at 7, we would go to the dance, and his dad would come back to pick us up at 10. Neither of us could drive and my parents were pretty opposed to the idea of me going to a girls ask guys dance with another dude, so Tyler's parents were our only option. Liza was going with a group of popular girls and their boyfriends so it was just Tyler and I.

I was actually looking forward to the experience. With all of the chaperones around, most kids would keep their taunting to a minimum, Owen wouldn't be pushing me around if he was with Liza, and two is always better than one. My mom never asked me about the dance. I told her I was going with Tyler and it never got brought up again. My father didn't find out until Thursday. "Blaine, get in here," he yelled from his office across the house. I ignored him the first time, but then he yelled again. I slowly walked into his office and regretted it instantly. "You're going to this dance thing with a guy?"

"Yeah...dad, I told you, I'm…"

"I don't need to hear it again. You're putting this on yourself but don't think that just because we're allowing you to go to the dance with him that it means we're okay with it. The rules still apply." His voice was so angry.

My dad and I were never close; he always bonded more with Cooper. But last year we started rebuilding a car together and we really bonded over it. Every night I didn't spend at Liza's or at school or at football games was spent in the garage with my dad. It meant a lot to me when he asked me to help because I knew he wanted to spend time with me. He was putting effort into our relationship, effort I didn't know he had. I ruined it all when I told him I was gay. "I understand. I just want to have a good time and I didn't have any other options. If it makes you feel any better, I'm really not interested in him."

"I don't need the details. Maybe we should get back in the garage again next week," he suggested, turning back to his paperwork.

I was shocked he wanted anything to do with me after I told him the truth. "Really?"

"It might be good for you to get a little grease on your hands," he mumbled. "You can leave now." I wasn't about to ask questions, so I left, overjoyed that he had any interest in working with me.

I spent the rest of my night watching Moulin Rouge and finishing my geometry homework while texting with Tyler. He and I had already talked about everything I could imagine. He told me how he figured out he was gay, how his parents reacted, how his friends treated him, everything. His family was a lot more supportive. I think they always knew about him because he was always into musicals and fashion and stuff. Somehow, talking to him always made me feel a lot better. We ended up FaceTiming or hanging out every night that week.

Friday night, Liza came over after her date with Owen and told me everything they talked about and everything they did. I kind of wanted to tell her to shut up, but I held back. She went home earlier than usual, but I didn't mind. I FaceTimed Tyler and we talked about the dance for a few hours.

Saturday, I biked to Walgreens and picked up a new container of raspberry hair gel, then went home to get ready for the dance. All through high school, my mom would spend at least a half hour taking pictures of Cooper and his date. She didn't do the same for me, but that was to be expected. Tyler picked me up at exactly 7 and his dad drove us to school. We walked in together, holding hands to spite the haters. The first group I saw was Liza's and she ran over to give me a hug. "Blaine, I'm so glad you found someone to come with. I hope you have an awesome time."

Then she ran back over to Owen and they danced the whole night without leaving any breathing space. Yep, Liza and Owen were that gross couple that's all over each other the whole night. But I didn't notice. Tyler and I spent the whole night together dancing and talking. We even did the slow dances. "Are you having a good time?" He asked me in the middle of 1,2,3,4 by the Plain White T's.

"Yeah, I honestly never thought I'd have this much fun at a school dance," I smiled. It was getting close to 10 so after the song finished, we left the gym and started walking to the door to wait for Tyler's dad.

After that night, I was starting to admit to myself that I could possibly be attracted to him. He was definitely not unattractive, plus his personality was pretty great and I loved talking to him. The dancing is what really sealed the deal. We held hands while we walked outside and when we finally exited the building, it was 10:45. He turned to face me, our faces so close I could feel his breath on my lips. We had both felt the transition from friends to something more that night and both of us wanted that kiss. Just as he was leaning in, I heard the familiar sound of Owen's taunting voice interrupt us. "Look, it's the lady boys." His tone was deep, mocking.

"Oh shoot, Owen, we interrupted. Looks like this one was about to make a move," one of Owen's friends teased, gently shoving Tyler.

Tyler took my hand and held it tightly while Owen and his two friends stepped closer. All three of them were bigger than us. Tyler was even more scrawny than I was; we didn't stand a chance. "Disgusting," Owen said in reply to his friend.

"Leave us alone, we're just trying to enjoy the dance," Tyler spoke up.

Owen's friend rolled his eyes. "Oh, I'm sorry, in that case we'll just go back to the dance and leave you alone, we wouldn't want you to have a bad time." His sarcasm was heavy, annoyingly so.

"Let me do the talking, TJ," Owen glared at his friend before turning his attention back to us, specifically making eye contact with Tyler. "You think we care about your little dance? We can't have a good time when there's two fags making out at _our_ school. I think it's time you two learned a lesson."

I looked up at Owen and frowned. "This is our school, too."

"We own this school," Owen snapped his head to look at me. "I don't know what I was thinking when I told Liza I'd leave you alone. You're just so easy. Too bad she has to miss this while she's freshening up with the other girls. I'm sure she'd love to see you cry."

"She's gonna dump you the second she finds out about this," I argued.

He smirked. "Good thing she's not gonna find out then." He stepped closer and shoved me against the brick wall of the school. I already felt a bruise on my left shoulder. The second it happened, Tyler tried to shove Owen away. That's when it all went down hill. Owen pushed Tyler the ground and then came back to me. He pushed me to the ground and started to kick the crap out of me. I swear I felt my ribs cracking when he threw a punch. My nose was bleeding soon after but I was too weak to get back up. There was blood everywhere and my whole body must have been black and blue. Tyler was lying only a few feet away, in worse condition than I was. His eyes were slowly closing and I couldn't do anything but lie there while Owen and his friend continued to beat me up. At the beginning, I had tried to fight back, but now it was impossible. I felt a tear rolling down my cheek and I moaned out loud in pain, I think it was when my rib cracked. Owen and his friends ran off a few minutes later, laughing.

Tyler's dad pulled up right after they left, and he freaked out. "Tyler? Blaine? I'm calling 911." He dialed 911 and waited for an answer. "I'm at the high school, my son and his friend...there's blood everywhere…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

What I remember most is my dad walking into the hospital to pick me up. "Come on, let's go." I followed him to the car, avoiding eye contact while I buckled my seat belt. I had stayed the night at the hospital. As soon as my parents knew the injuries weren't serious, they left and went home to sleep, coming back to check in the next day. I was okay to leave after they had stitched up my scratches and told me how to care for my broken and bruised ribs. My nose was broken so they gave me some acetaminophen and had to move it back into place, which was extremely painful. When I got home, I was ordered to lay on the couch with my head elevated. "How did this happen?" My father asked, taking a seat next to me.

"I was waiting for Tyler's dad and they just showed up and started beating the crap out of us. We both tried to fight back, but all three of them were way bigger than us." I looked away, sort of ashamed. He must have been so disappointed in me.

My mother walked into the room a few moments later and sat next to him. "Honey, how would you feel about switching schools?"

 **Thanks for the reviews! Suggestions and comments would be awesome!**


	5. Chapter 5: Time to Think

"I don't want to switch schools, I can't leave Liza and Tyler," I argued. I couldn't believe my parents would go that far. At the moment, leaving all of the bullying behind sounded like a great option. But I knew I could never escape the harassment. People suck everywhere.

My mom's eyes rolled back in her head. "Well we have to do something. I don't like getting calls in the middle of the night from the hospital."

My father was still silent. He obviously agreed with my mom. "Can we at least talk to the school board first to see what they can do? Once they know who did it maybe Owen and his friends will get suspended or something and I'll be safer…" I didn't want to leave the only friends I had, especially Tyler. We were just becoming close and there was finally something there.

"Blaine, those aren't going to be the only bullies. You're different. And now that everyone knows it, they're all going to treat you differently. Maybe it would be best to look at your other options." My mom set her hand on top of mine.

I shook my head. "Right now the only option I want to look at is what the school is going to do about what happened."

So she finally gave in and let me talk to the principal and deans. We set up a meeting for the following Monday. Unfortunately, she was right all along.

"I'm sorry that happened to you at school, Blaine. We will do our best to prevent something like that from happening again. I'm afraid all we can do is suspend the bullies for two weeks and make sure to provide more supervision for future school events. But you also have to accept that kids can be mean and intolerant to differences." Those were the wise words of my principal two days after I was put in the hospital as a result of a school dance. I rolled my eyes and left the office, pissed that the school couldn't do anything about it.

My parents followed me out of the office down the hall and into the car where the question came again. "Blaine, are you sure you don't want to switch schools?"

I was silent for a few minutes, but I wasn't thinking it over. I knew what I needed to do. But I needed to talk to Liza and Tyler first. "Can I have some time to think about it?"

"Sure."

That night, I went to Liza's house to talk about transferring. Even though we had been distant lately, she was still my best friend and switching schools without her was a terrifying thought. I didn't tell her I was coming but I figured since it was a Monday night she would just be sitting at home working on homework anyway. I knocked on her front door and when no one answered, I opened it myself because her parents had made it clear I was welcome there anytime. There were lights on in the basement and upstairs so I checked upstairs first to see if she was in her room. It was just her mom doing the laundry. "Oh, sorry, Mrs. Montgomery. Where is Liza? I thought she might be up here working on homework."

"She's in the basement. Don't worry about it, Blaine. I told you, you're welcome here anytime," she gave me a welcoming smile and I went downstairs. I don't know why Mrs. Montgomery didn't mention that Liza already had company, but she didn't so I walked down there anyway and found Liza cuddling on the couch talking with Owen.

I saw her before she saw me and my first instinct was to run away again, just like I did at the party, but I couldn't believe she was still with him after our last encounter sent me to the hospital. "Blaine? What are you doing here?" She asked, standing up and walking over to me.

Behind Liza's back, Owen gave me a sarcastic wave. "I needed to talk to you but I guess you're busy so just forget about it." I rolled my eyes and took a step back, but I didn't want to leave, not like this. I didn't want to make this decision without her. No, scratch that, I _couldn't_ make that decision without her. She had been my guiding arm for the past three years and I didn't know how to deal with these things without her help.

"What's up? If you want, we can go talk about it upstairs," she suggested. And of course, I agreed. We left Owen alone in the basement and went to Liza's bedroom where we both took a seat on her bed. "What's going on?"

It was dead silent. I didn't know how to get the words out or how to even begin the conversation about Owen. I guess at this point I had nothing to lose. "How could you?" It was so simple yet so aggressive that tears started falling from my eyes immediately following the question.

She wrapped her arms around me and let me cry for a while before pulling away. "Blaine, I really care about him and he's going through a rough time right now. He just got suspended for no reason." I pulled away from her the second the words left her mouth.

"Bull shit, Liza. Is that seriously what he's been telling you? What's his story?" I asked, genuinely wondering what he said to make her believe his ridiculous side of the story.

"He didn't hurt anyone, he was just standing on the sidelines watching, trying to make his friends stop before it got too serious. I don't know why it's so hard for you to believe that he has changed…"

I shook my head, the tears rolling down thicker by the second. "Because it was me he beat up. Can't you see the black eye? And the bandage over my nose? He did this, Liza. Him and his stupid jock friends. He did it while you were in the bathroom with the girls freshening up or something. He beat the shit out of me and Tyler. I was in the hospital overnight on Saturday because of him. He was there, in fact, he was the most aggressive out of the whole group."

"No...he would have told me. I know you really hate him but you didn't have to drag him into this mess just because his friends made a mistake. I'm really sorry that happened to you, but it wasn't his fault. He was just there at the wrong time. I'm sure your vision was a little blurred at that point, you probably couldn't tell who it was and you might have just assumed it was Owen." She was defending him. My best friend in the whole world, the only person who was supposed to understand, was _defending him_.

I couldn't believe my ears. "Unbelievable. He threw the first punch, Liza. But if I need to convince you of that, clearly I should just leave." My tears were thicker now and falling onto her bedsheets. I wiped a few away and stood up to leave.

"Wait, where are you going? I thought you wanted to talk about something," she stood up and followed me out the door.

I turned to face her again and saw that her eyes were beginning to fill with tears as well. "I did. But I don't really care about your opinion anymore. It's not going to be the one I want since you clearly picked your stupid boyfriend over me." I felt like a terrible person for saying that, but I knew it's what had to be done.

"This is ridiculous, you said it was os okay for us to keep dating as long as he left you alone and he has left you alone."

It was hopeless. She was never going to believe me over him. "If you can't even listen to my side of the story, there's no point. I don't care about what you have to say anymore. I'm switching schools. You were my only reason to stay and now I don't even have that." I started my way down the stairs and this time, she didn't follow me.

"Blaine," she interrupted, "can we please talk about it? Just because I have a boyfriend now doesn't mean you aren't still my best friend."

I shook my head. "Best friends don't put their boyfriends first." And with that, I left her house, got on my bike and rode away. I knew exactly what she was doing, too. She would sit in her bedroom crying for a few minutes, then go back down and complain to her boyfriend who would comfort her and tell her she deserved better than me, and she would get over it. But I would never get over losing a friend like that.

It was pretty dark out by that point, but going home never crossed my mind, despite the fact that my vision was blurred from the tears. I knocked on Tyler's front door and was faced with his dad after a few extra knocks. "Blaine, hey, how are you?" When he noticed I was crying, he let me in immediately and told Tyler I was here. We went to his bedroom and sat down for a moment of silence before I completely broke down. He wrapped his arms around me and his hands down my back while I cried for at least 10 minutes.

"What happened?" He asked. I explained the whole thing and finished in the same position as I started: bawling in his arms like a baby. It was weird; I met Tyler a week ago and trusted him more than my best friend from three years ago. The worst part was that I didn't think Liza and I would ever get over this. She chose the path she wanted to take and it didn't involve me. Thankfully, I had Tyler so I wasn't completely alone. "I'm so sorry. That's terrible." His supportive arms were all I needed to stop crying. My tears stopped falling after a few minutes and we lay together on his bed. He kissed my head, his arms still wrapped around my back.

It felt so nice to be with him. I finally felt wanted, like there was somewhere I belonged, like he was someone I could rely on, especially since I no longer had Liza. In that moment, I didn't want anything to change and I could have stayed there in his arms forever. The tension felt the same as it did when we finally got out of the crowded gym at the Sadie Hawkin's dance, before we got beat up. I looked up at him and stared at his face, admiring the little details. After thinking about it for a moment, I leaned in to kiss his lips. I was shocked at first, not expecting myself to make the first move, but Tyler wasn't surprised at all. Our eyes were soon closed and I could feel my heart beating faster in my chest. He smelled like that really nice Calvin Klein cologne, probably the expensive stuff. His lips fit with mine perfectly, and naturally, his tongue slipped in after a while. This was a completely new sensation for me; I had never kissed anyone before with the exception of Liza at some point in middle school. He clearly had experience, but I didn't mind because it felt so nice. His lips vaguely tasted like strawberry, so I assumed he had been wearing lip balm. I tilted my head to the right and our noses lightly brushed against each other which made him smile into the kiss and me move my hands around his neck.

I pulled away after about 10 minutes of lying there making out because I didn't think it was fair to not tell him the truth. "Tyler...I have to tell you something." I sat up across from him on the bed, crossing my legs. "I'm switching schools. I don't know where yet, my parents are still looking around. I just can't be at this school anymore, not with Owen and all of the bullies still around."

He understood and gave me a hug. "Can I still see you?"

I hesitated, unsure of the answer. "I don't know."

 **Please review and let me know how I'm doing! Thanks!**


	6. Chapter 6: The Solution

I spent the next several days at Tyler's house, avoiding going to school. My parents made me stay at home overnight but when Tyler got home from school, I was always at his house waiting for him. He helped me do some research to figure out what school would be the best for me. Wednesday night, Tyler was having family dinner at his grandparents' so I was forced to be with my family. They sat me down on the couch, my mom's laptop sitting on the table in front of us. "Alright, here are our options. There are a few Christian schools in the Lima area and Columbus has a few nice high schools. Plus they haven't had tryouts for basketball yet so you could still make the team." She pulled up the website for a public school in Columbus and began searching for the registration papers.

"Wait, Mom...how is a public school in Columbus going to be any more accepting than my school?" I moved back, confused.

My mom looked away, avoiding eye contact. She and my dad shared a look before he turned his head to face me. "Blaine, this is a chance for a fresh start. You can join the basketball team, make some new friends, be the kind of person who doesn't get made fun of. You're not going to find a school to protect you any more than this one does."

I scowled, staring at my parents in disbelief. "You want me to go back to pretending to be someone I'm not?"

My mom was hesitant but my father jumped on the opportunity to reply. "That's what it takes to avoid something like this happening again."

I shook my head. "There are schools with zero tolerance policies. I've been researching some of them with Tyler. In Westerville, there's this boarding school…"

"Blaine, last week you said you didn't even want to switch schools. Now you're suggesting boarding schools. What changed?" My mom asked, moving closer to me.

I didn't want to tell her what went down with Liza. They didn't need to know. If they did, my mom wouldn't hesitate to start up country club drama, as if she needed any more of that after I outed myself. "I think it would be best for me to get away and the only place I can really be safe is somewhere with a strict zero tolerance policy like the school I found in Westerville." When they didn't argue, I continued. "It's called Dalton Academy. It's an all boys boarding school and they have a ton of extracurriculars plus a fairly challenging curriculum, even more so than the one I have now."

"All boys?" My father's eyes narrowed.

I nodded. "It's not a gay school or anything like that, just a regular boarding school. I really think this would be good for me. Will you at least look into it?"

They looked at each other and then agreed to give it a shot "on one condition". I had to attend "therapy" once every two weeks and give them monthly updates on my "progress". I started filling out registration papers while my parents began the search for an "ex-gay" therapist near Westerville. I decided I would put up with it, only because I knew that's what I had to do to get them to leave me alone.

By the end of the week, they had signed a check granting me admission to Dalton Academy. I was surprised they agreed so quickly, but part of me always suspected they'd sign the papers just to get rid of me. Of course my mom loved me and my dad was slowly accepting the whole thing, but if I wasn't around they could tell their friends whatever they wanted and there would be no more hospital visits or bullying incidents. And in their minds, I would be "cured" by the time I was ready to return home.

Thursday night, my dad and I were working in the garage in almost complete silence. I hated the quietness of it and couldn't keep my mouth shut, like always. "You know if I go to Dalton we're not going to have time to work on the car anymore?"

"You'll be here on the weekends sometimes. It's not like you're going away to college. We'll finish it up eventually," He didn't speak again for the rest of the night. Part of me thought he wouldn't miss me at all.

We finished working at 9 or so and I went to my room to FaceTime Tyler, but was interrupted by my brother calling me. "Cooper? What's up?"

"Hey little bro. I've been talking to Mom. So you're gay?" He asked nonchalantly. Cooper and I weren't close. In fact, I spent most of my childhood hating him because of the way he treated me. There was a 7 year age gap between us and since we were both interested in performing, it made for a dramatic relationship. When I was five, I started obsessing over dancing and singing and even a little acting. I learned mostly from movies and music videos because my dad thought taking dance lessons would make me gay and Cooper was too selfish to teach me himself, despite years of theater experience. He critiqued every little thing I did and I was positive by the time I was 14, the only nice thing he ever said to me was "that didn't suck" about my impersonation of Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'".

I was in sixth grade when he graduated from high school and convinced our parents to pay for him to travel to L.A. to pursue his acting dream. He and I rarely talked and when we did it was for birthdays or special occasions or the one or two times a year he decided to come home and visit. I actually prefered it that way because having him around made me much more insecure. One of the reasons I was so hesitant to come out was because my whole life he made me feel like I was inferior and had to strive to be absolutely perfect, despite knowing perfection was impossible. I was smart and currently ranked eighth in my class and I always had optimistic yet reasonable dreams, but my parents started to openly favor Cooper the day they found out I was gay.

My whole life I felt like an outsider in my family. I couldn't shut up at school around my friends and I loved to talk but somehow I found myself silenced every night at family dinner as a kid. I wasn't close with any of them and since Cooper's favorite pastime was reminding me of all the things I sucked at, I lived a pretty lonely childhood. I didn't let it get to me because I still had friends, but being around my family was particularly frustrating.

I was shocked he even cared about my recent reveal and even more shocked to see his name on my caller I.D at all. "Yeah," I replied simply, unsure of what else I could say. He and I never had much to talk about. Our conversations were awkward and consisted of a lot of uncomfortable silences.

"I know we aren't super close and don't talk a ton but I have your back if you ever need some advice or any of that," he offered. I could hear the sincerity in his voice for the first time ever, and it was the perfect thing to say.

"Thanks, Coop. It means a lot," I smiled, still in somewhat disbelief those words had come out of my brother's mouth.

There was another awkward silence and I considered making up a random excuse to hang up but luckily, he did it himself. "I gotta go, I have an audition for a Fox TV sitcom in an hour. Call me if you need anything. I have your back. Love you, Blaine." He hung up before I could say anything back, leaving me alone to stare at my bedroom wall in shock. I stood up and shook it off, starting to pack up my stuff for the move. I would be wearing a uniform so I didn't have to bring most of my clothes.

I had never been away from home by myself with the exception of a few elementary school campouts or weekends at Liza's, but I knew I wouldn't be homesick. It was a time in my life when I couldn't get away from my family fast enough. The only part I was afraid of was starting over. I would have to make new friends and adjust to a new system, but I couldn't have been more excited. I was almost done packing when the call from Tyler came through. "Hey," I answered.

A few moments later came a quiet "hey." He sounded sad, and I knew I was the reason. I felt guilty leaving him alone here. He didn't have anyone else and I was leaving him with the bullies right as we were becoming close.

It was a few minutes later when I broke the silence. "I'm sorry. I don't…"

"I know. You don't want to go but you have to. I understand. If I got the opportunity to escape, I'd take it, too." I heard him sigh and for a second I thought he might be crying. "My family just can't afford that and I don't have the GPA to get a scholarship."

I nodded, taking a second to pretend there was still a possibility he could transfer to Dalton with me. "I wish things were different."

"Ditto."

We didn't talk for long that night, and part of me was thankful. I figured the less we talked before I left, the less I would miss him when I was gone. We couldn't date if I lived an hour away; neither of us could drive. We had only become friends a few weeks earlier. Trying to find a way to "stay together" was simply ridiculous, but that didn't stop us from talking about it.

The realization of the situation kept hitting me over and over again. Tyler would be my only person to say goodbye to. Well, Tyler and my parents. The probability of Liza reaching out before the move was slim to none and everyone at school would be happy to have me gone. It just sucked, and there was no other way to describe it.

 **Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter! It's really nice to know what you guys think. Ideas and comments are always helpful. Thanks!**


	7. Chapter 7: Dalton

Dropping me off at Dalton seemed to be pretty easy for my parents. My dad stayed behind and let my mom take me by herself. The last time I saw my dad was standing outside of our house loading my suitcase into the back of my mom's car. He gave me a pat on the back and walked back inside because he "had to get some work done". Tyler came over to say goodbye, as well. When his bike turned onto my street, my face lit up. He stopped his bike on the sidewalk and ran to my side, giving me a tight hug. I didn't want to let go; I knew the second I did, it was all over. He didn't want it to stop, either. "I'm gonna miss you," he whispered, finally pulling away.

"I'll miss you, too," I agreed, our eyes locking. He took my hand and squeezed it. "I'll text you when I get there. We can still talk all the time." Even after I said it, I knew we wouldn't. We'd start off texting all the time and it would slowly fade into nothing at all.

"I'd like that," he grinned. "I'm sorry you have to leave like this, without Liza."

I shrugged. I hadn't talked to Liza in nearly a week and she didn't seem to care at all. By that point, I had stopped caring. If she cared more about Owen than me, I didn't need to care about her, either. It took everything in me to not say goodbye, go over to her house one last time. "It's her loss," I lied. I knew it was me that felt bad about it, not her. I hate to admit it, but I was pissed she hadn't at least texted me. A simple apology would have been enough for me to forgive her and go back to being her best friend, but I didn't even get that.

"Yeah it is. I don't know who would want to miss saying goodbye to Blaine Anderson." He faked a smile and leaned in to kiss me. I kissed him back and held his hands tightly in mine, trying as hard as I could to savor the moment.

"Blaine, we need to leave. Are you ready?" My mom asked as she exited our house and made her way to the car.

I sighed and pulled away from Tyler. "Wish me luck."

He held one of my hands and reached into his pocket with the other, pulling out a small pin that resembled the one given to the cowardly lion at the end of The Wizard of Oz. He slipped it into my pocket after giving me a second to look at it. "I know you're scared because it's a new school and all that, but no matter what, it'll always be better there than it is here. You already have the luck, you got away. All you need now is some courage, and that's what this is for. You're gonna own that school." We both laughed through our watery eyes and I gave him one more quick hug before getting into the car with my mom. He waved while we drove away and I put on my sunglasses to cover up the tears. I was terrified of never seeing him again and of leaving everything behind. My mom let me choose the music in the car so I chose my favorite Katy Perry album, hoping it would cheer me up.

We reached Dalton about an hour later and sat down for a meeting with the principal first thing. "Hello, I'm Pam Anderson. This is my son, Blaine. He's starting here tomorrow." My mom and I sat in front of the desk. I held my hand in my pocket, toying with the small pin while I waited for the principal to reply.

"I'm Principal Burke, it's very nice to meet you, Blaine. And you as well, Pam," he shook my mother's hand and then moved on to mine. My mom handed over all of the transfer papers and then he called in a kid from the hall to give me a tour. "Wes, can you come in here?"

The kid who walked in appeared to be a few years older than me and was wearing a full Dalton uniform. His face held a friendly half smile that eventually turned into a much wider one. "Wes, would you mind giving our new student Blaine a quick tour?"

"Of course," Wes agreed.

My mom pulled me into a brief hug before kissing my cheek. "I love you, Blaine. And I'll miss you. So will your father, even if it doesn't feel like it right now."

"I love you, too, Mom." She left right after that and I started walking with Wes down the hall.

When we got to the end of the hall, he stopped and turned to look at me. "My name is Wes if you didn't get that from Principal Burke. I'm a junior here and I'm captain of the mathletes, chess club, and junior captain of the Warblers."

His voice was soothing and welcoming, and somehow made me feel a lot more comfortable. "What are the Warblers?"

He laughed a little before replying. "The Warblers are our extracurricular a capella show choir. Do you sing?"

"Yeah, a little," I was trying to stay modest and make a good impression, but I loved to sing. Sure, I was a member of the show choir at my old school and the theater department but I never enjoyed it quite as much as I liked singing solos for karaoke or at home in my room. I didn't think my voice was terrible, but no one had ever told me otherwise so I wasn't sure how to answer the question.

"You should join! We're looking for a new soloist because ours is graduating next year. There are tons of talented guys in the Warblers but no one is really a star like him." Suddenly, Wes seemed a lot more excited to be giving me a tour. "We rehearse in that room down the hall right next to the library. We're doing a performance tomorrow after school, it always shuts down the school when we perform for a little bit. The school really enjoys it. You should come, then you can audition after."

I smiled slightly and nodded. "Sure, sounds like fun."

He led me down the hall to the cafeteria then showed me how all of the classrooms were organized before taking me to the dorm buildings. "What dorm are you in?" I had to check my transcript but then I found out we were in dorms right next to each other. He showed me to my room and then knocked on the door. A smiling angel-like face opened the door and immediately pulled me into a hug.

"Are you my roommate? I'm so excited! I thought I was going to be alone all year," he laughed a little and then looked at Wes. "Hey, Wes."

"Blaine, this is Trent. Trent, this is Blaine. You guys are roommates," Wes introduced us and then looked directly at Trent. "I convinced Blaine to audition for the Warblers. Is that a good enough reason to join yet?"

Trent laughed a little and then shrugged. "I'll think about it." Wes left after a few minutes of small talk and I started setting up my stuff. "So where are you from?"

"I'm from the Lima area, it's about an hour away," I answered.

"Why'd you transfer then? Just sick of the public schools or wanted a higher class education or what?" He asked. I could tell Trent was overly outgoing. Somehow, it was okay he was asking me so many personal questions after we had just met.

I shrugged as I sat down on my bed. "Something like that."

"I transferred because of all of the bullying. I'm from Fort Wayne, Indiana. People were pretty rude there. I was in their glee club, Aural Intensity, but they weren't very accepting so I decided to switch schools. My parents suggested it because they didn't want me getting made fun of anymore. The homophobia was the worst, but it wasn't just that," he explained.

I nodded, completely understanding. "Yeah, same here." I ended up telling him my entire life story that night and he told me his as well. We stayed up much later than we should have talking about everything we could possibly think of.

I woke up at 6:30 the next day, Monday, since class started at 8. I took a shower, gelled my hair, and then slipped on my brand new uniform for the first time. The blazer felt surprisingly natural and I laughed a little because of how preppy I looked. I always dressed fairly preppy but now I was a real prep school student and it felt like a little much. I dug through my dresser drawer and found my pants from the night before. My pin from Tyler was still in the pocket and it put a smile on my face when I found it. For a moment, I considered wearing it on the outside of my blazer, but I decided to keep it to myself and then pinned it on the inside. Trent and I walked to first period together and I chose a seat right next to him. We had most of the same classes since we were both freshmen so we spent almost the whole day in class together as well as lunch.

After school, I followed Wes's orders and went to the Warbler performance. It was amazing; I had never seen anything like it. Everyone was dancing and singing along and clapping, having the time of their lives. The performance lasted 10 minutes and then everyone left and I was left alone with Trent and the Warblers. "Blaine, I'm so glad you decided to audition! You, too, Trent! What will you be singing? We can back you up?"

"Do you know She Will Be Loved?" It was one of my favorite songs and I knew it backwards, so it was probably my best shot at getting into the Warblers.

"I like this guy," I heard someone whisper. After a note from a pitch pipe, they all started singing the background in perfect harmony. I grinned and began singing the lead.

 _Beauty queen of only eighteen_

 _She had some trouble with herself_

 _He was always there to help her_

 _She always belonged to someone else_

 _I drove for miles and miles and wound up at your door_

 _I've had you so many times but somehow I want more_

For the chorus, Trent joined me and everyone started to smile and dance together. It made me grin even wider while I continued with the song.

 _I don't mind spending every day_

 _Out on your corner in the pouring rain_

 _Look for the girl with the broken smile_

 _Ask her if she wants to stay awhile_

 _And she will be loved_

 _And she will be loved_

We skipped some of the song to get done as quickly as we could. Everyone seemed happy, even the kids who seemed to be the serious ones in the group.

 _I know where you hide alone in your car_

 _Know all the things that make you who you are_

 _I know that goodbye means nothing at all_

 _Comes back and begs me to catch her every time she falls_

 _Yeah_

They let me sing the next two lines by myself with barely any background noise and it felt awesome. I had never felt this good singing with a group before. My old glee club was more focused on getting solos and fighting than on the music, but the warblers seemed to really care about what they were singing.

 _Tap on my window knock on my door_

 _I want to make you feel beautiful_

Everyone joined in again and by that point, we were all dancing and smiling together, despite barely anyone knowing who I was.

 _I don't mind spending every day_

 _Out on your corner in the pouring rain, oh._

 _Look for the girl with the broken smile_

 _Ask her if she wants to stay awhile_

 _And she will be loved_

 _And she will be loved_

 _And she will be loved_

 _And she will be loved_

They filled in the rest of the lyrics with me, and I took the same harmony as Trent while we danced with the rest of the Warblers.

 _Please don't try so hard to say goodbye_

 _Please don't try so hard to say goodbye_

 _Yeah, yeah._

 _I don't mind spending every day_

 _Out on your corner in the pouring rain_

 _Please don't try so hard to say goodbye_

When we finished, everyone was smiling and laughing together. "So what did you think?" I asked Wes, turning to face him.

"All in favor of adding Blaine and Trent to the warblers?" Wes asked. Every person raised their hands and I high fived Trent. This new school thing was starting to look much better.

 **Thanks for reading! Reviews, questions, and suggestions are always appreciated! Please let me know what you think!**


	8. Chapter 8: Turning A Blind Eye

Now that I was part of the Warblers, Dalton seemed like a lot more fun. One of the guys from the group, David, convinced me to do fight club with him and I quickly agreed. I thought it would be a good self defense mechanism if anything like Sadie Hawkins happened again. Trent and I started spending all of our free time singing and we ate lunch with the Warblers every day. Life felt a lot less lonely at Dalton and nobody cared that I was gay except Trent who thought it was awesome he was no longer the only one.

Wednesday, two days after my first day at Dalton, I got a surprising text from Liza. Seeing her name pop up on my phone was shocking enough, but what she said was even more unbelievable. .

 _I can't believe you left without telling me first. I guess our three years of friendship means nothing to you. -Liza_

I was staring at the text, trying to figure out how she could possibly think this was my fault, when another text came through from her.

 _Also, if we're throwing that all away, it'd be nice if you could tell your boyfriend to leave me and my friends alone. -Liza_

My questions were all answered when I checked my Facebook. There were videos everywhere of Owen walking into school holding Liza's hand when Tyler came up to shove him against the wall. Apparently, Owen got to go back to school a few days early and Tyler was pissed so he confronted him as he walked into school. Owen didn't have any friends around so it looked like a relatively fair fight, and it resulted in them being forced to spend detention together for the rest of the week. Liza shoved Tyler away from Owen and into a locker and there were videos everywhere of Tyler yelling "This one's for Blaine" before punching Owen in the face and then turning to Liza to yell at her. There was a full video on YouTube titled "Gay Kid Goes Crazy".

His nose was already a little bloody when he started yelling at Liza. "I can't believe what you did to him. What did he ever do to deserve that? He's been the perfect friend and you let some stupid guy ruin all of that. All you care about is your stupid reputation and fitting in with all these losers when you should care about the one person who's actually there for you."

"You don't know anything about my life, leave me alone!" She yelled back, shoving him out of the way. That's when the video ended. What made Tyler lose it like that? I was mad at Liza but not mad enough to say any of the things he said to her. And Tyler wasn't a violent guy. It wasn't like him to snap.

Trent walked up behind me while I was watching the video and leaned over my shoulder. "What's this?"

"Old friends," I answered. "I'm gonna go make a call." I left our room and started on a walk around campus. Everything was quiet with the exception of a few teachers walking to their cars. I ducked behind a tree so they wouldn't see me while I dialed Tyler's number.

"So you saw the videos." He knew why I was calling. "It wasn't as bad as they make it seem. I didn't just start yelling at her."

"That's why I called. I wanted to hear the story from you, not some stranger on YouTube."

I could hear him take a deep breath. "I was standing at my locker when they walked inside and the first thing Owen said was a dumb gay joke. Liza laughed and it pissed me off so I turned around and told them to knock it off or I'd go to the principal again. Then he kept making fun of me saying I should have just ran away like you because no one wants me around and I couldn't believe that Liza wasn't defending you. And the fact that she was playing along with his stupid homophobic jokes was infuriating. I shoved him first and we got in this huge fight. Now I have detention all week. But anyway, then Liza started yelling at me to stop because their lives were none of my business and she kept saying I needed to stay out of it because he never did anything to me and that's what set me off. But no one ever believes the outsider, right?"

I couldn't believe all of this had happened. I thought after I left, things would just go back to normal. I knew the bullying would stay but I didn't think it would escalate so much. And I never thought Liza, best friend, would be the bully. "That's insane. I'm so sorry, Tyler."

"Don't worry about it, it's not your fault. The whole thing is really bizarre. I didn't know Liza super well but she always seemed so nice and understanding, especially the way you described her." He sounded genuinely confused and for the first time since I left home, I wished I could be there to give him a hug. "It's just so weird."

I listened in disbelief. I didn't think I would ever be friends with Liza again but I also didn't think she would treat someone like that, especially someone I was friends with. High fiving about homophobic comments didn't sound like her at all. I was starting to worry about her. She was changing, and it wasn't just desperation for popularity. "I wish I could have been there."

"No you don't, it was a disaster. I'm glad you weren't there to see me lose it." He was really torn up about it. "I've never done anything like that. I don't go around starting fights, he just made me so mad and then she was defending him...it was awful."

I sank down against the wall of a building, leaning my head back until it hit the bricks behind me. "You did what you had to do. I'm sorry you had to do it alone."

He waited a minute to reply, clearly trying to find the right words. "I'm happy for you, Blaine, but I do wish there were two of us here." I reached into my blazer and felt the pin he had given me, suddenly wishing I had sucked it up and stayed at home.

"I think you need the courage right now more than I do," I sighed, pulling the pin out of my blazer and staring at it. It wasn't just a symbol of courage anymore; it was a symbol of Tyler and whatever it was that we had.

"How's Dalton?"

I felt guilty for being happy there with him all alone. I didn't want to tell him about all of the friends I had made and all of the new things I was trying. I was afraid saying I was safe and happy would make him feel worse. "It's really nice. I haven't been shoved into a locker yet so it's already an improvement. I'm in a singing group and the fight club, maybe if I get really good at boxing I can come home and the beat the shit out of Owen with you." We both laughed. I ended up telling him all about Dalton, accidentally going into detail about every little thing that had happened.

"I'm so glad you like it there. It makes me feel better knowing you're going to be okay." I could almost feel him smiling through the phone and I grinned, a tear falling from my eye. Then all of a sudden he burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" I asked, laughing with him.

He could barely take a breath for long enough to answer. "It's 1 in the morning. We've been talking for 2 hours."

That made me laugh even more. "Wow. Even when we're this far away, you can still make me laugh harder than anyone else. And somehow you're the only person I can talk to like that." I stopped laughing when that dawned on me. We were at least an hour drive away from each other and yet he was the only person I wanted to talk to. "I think I might love you, Tyler." I didn't know what I was saying or if it was even true, but it felt like the right thing to say. When he didn't reply, I instantly regretted it. "I mean...I think I…"

He laughed again. "It's okay." He paused and I felt a little sick. If he didn't say anything about it, I would be super embarrassed. "But it would never work out."

"I know, I should have left it alone." I was blushing, probably more than I had in a really long time. "I should go, my curfew was two hours ago and Trent's probably wondering where I am. Can we talk again soon?" I hoped he wasn't too freaked out by what I had said, especially since he didn't say it back. I didn't want to lose the connection we had.

He was hesitant, but eventually replied. "Of course. Goodnight, Blaine."

"Goodnight, Tyler." I hung up and sat by myself for a while, thinking about everything he had said. In that moment, I wanted more than anything to be at home with him. Maybe I was just lovesick and obsessed with the idea of being with someone, but I knew I felt something for him I had never felt for anyone else.

It was 1:30 when I walked back into my dorm room and Trent was sleeping so I tried to get undressed and go to bed quietly, but he woke up anyway. "What was that about?"

I didn't want to get into it with him. Honestly, I thought if I started talking I wouldn't be able to stop which would inevitably lead to me crying and I wasn't quite ready for him to see that. "Nothing, it was just my friend from back home. We haven't talked all week so we had a lot to catch up on."

"I don't mean to be a debbie downer or anything but do you think that's a good idea if you're away from each other?" He asked. He could probably read on my face that I didn't know what he was talking about so he continued. "You wouldn't want to get emotionally attached and then have it end just because you can never see each other."

I nodded as I fell onto my bed and tucked myself under the covers. "It's not like that. He was just filling me in on the drama at school, that's all."

"Okay, if you say so." He turned off the lamp in our room just in time for me to notice my phone light up next to me with a text from Tyler.

 _I love you, too. -Tyler_

 **Sorry it's taken me so long to update! I've been contemplating going back to edit the first few chapters because I had some new ideas. Please review and let me know what you thought of the chapter, I really like it!**


End file.
